Switzerland
Day 9 - Thursday, 8 June 2000
We left our neat little apartment (it's actually one side of a duplex with three bedrooms and not all that little) and climbed our way up to the train station. We climb about 400 feet in the 0.4 mile walk.
We took a train from Spiez to Interlaken Ost, then switched to a train that took us to Grindlewald, a touristy little town that sits about 3,400 feet above sea level. Carolyn and Geri both managed to buy several items here.
This photo was taken from the main street through Grindlewald.
We wandered around Grindlewald for a few hours before catching the train on up to Kleine Scheidegg, a wide spot in the tracks at about 6,800 feet above sea level. That's about as high as Carolyn can safely go so we didn't go on up to Jungfraujoch at 11,333 feet. Geri and I went there when we were here in 1990. It's easy to believe the claim that it is the highest railroad station in Europe. One has to wonder where in the world is there a higher one. The highest standard gauge railroad in the world is in Peru. It reaches an altitude of 15,800 feet.
The train from Grindlewald to Wengen is not covered by the Swiss Rail Pass so we had to pay a supplement of about $20/person for this portion of the trip.
Kleine Scheidegg train station at 6,762 feet sits among mountain peaks.
After spending an hour or so at Kleine Scheidegg we caught a train down to Lauterbrunnen via Wengen, changed to a train bound for Interlaken Ost, changed to a train to Interlaken West were we hoped against hope that the Migros store would be open after 6:30 PM. It wasn't. We then had to wait 1/2 hour for the next train back to Spiez.
The photo to the right shows avalance fences above Wegen.
It has been a bright, sunny day with a few clouds in the sky, particularly around the high mountain peaks.
We have only six more days in this glorious country. Already I wish we were staying longer. Maybe next time.
We were pooped puppies when we got back to the apartment but we had to do some laundry. We used the washer in the basement. Erika charges 8 Sfr (about $4.80) per load. She provides the soap. We hung them up in the "drying room" in the basement. Since the weather was cool and damp it took two days for our clothes to dry.